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A mom loves Broadway and now she wants to share theatre with her son. Growing up she used to go all the time with her father. Her son loves music and he loves dancing. Her son has autism and he is nonverbal. However, when there is music and there is dancing she feels connected to him. She looks online but there isn't an autism-friendly performance scheduled of the show she wants to see. She has to risk going to a typical performance. The curtain comes up and the show begins. Her son loves the show and begins moaning and flapping in enjoyment. To her this is affirmation; to the people around them it is a distraction. Whispers turn to comments and soon the mom and son are all but run from the theatre by the audience because his sounds of happiness were too distracting.

This is not a unique story.​In the last 3 years, I’ve heard it at least 40 times.

An Activity Area at a 2016 TDF Autism-Friendly Performance

​ Since 2011 the Theatre Development Fund has presented autism-friendly performances on Broadway and consulted nationally through The Autism Theatre Initiative to help families with cognitive/developmental disabilities attend the theatre. These performances have slight technical adjustments such as reduced sound and the removal of strobe lights. TDF first presented Disney’s The Lion King and have since presented autism-friendly performances of Mary Poppins, Elf, Spider-Man, Wicked, Matilda, The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, and Aladdin. On average TDF presents 4 autism-friendly performances a year.

The structure for a TDF autism-friendly performance starts with the non-profit organization purchasing the entire house for a single performance at the best group rate the production is willing to give. From there TDF discounts the tickets internally, at a loss, to make the experience affordable to families since the average cost of caring for an individual with a cognitive/developmental disability is close to double that of a neuro-typical individual. TDF then sells the tickets to their mailing list, which now includes over 8,000 households, while doing their best to protect the tickets from ticket brokers and scalpers who often try and take advantage of the discounted prices. The performance itself is staffed with 40-50 volunteers, many of whom are autism professionals, and 2-3 autism specialists paid by TDF to aide in any situations that may arise.

​As mentioned TDF currently has a mailing list of over 8,000 and sells an average Broadway house of only 1,500 seats. You can imagine how quickly these performances sell out, sometimes in barely an hour. With limited number of performances and a limited number of tickets to those performances it's inevitable that some people are going to be shut out. These families also want to share in the magic of theatre and sometimes that leads them to risking audience anger and going to a typical performance such as The King And I.

I ask you- when did we as theater people, performers and audience members become so concerned with our own experience that we lose compassion for others?– Actor Kelvin Moon Loh

That is an excerpt from a Facebook post by actor Kelvin Moon Loh (See Full Post) after an incident a few months ago during which the audience acted similarly to the example at the beginning of this article. His response to the audience and to the entire Broadway community surged through the internet overnight and has been reposted by everyone from The Mighty, Autism Speaks, and even the New York Times. I wrote my own response to that letter (as pretty much everyone in my life sent me some version of it in about a 12 hour span). Visit my Facebook to read my response to the Kelvin Moon Loh story.

I, as a theatre access professional, may take an unpopular stance here, but I don’t think the problem was the audience. Sure, they could have acted with more compassion, but they also went to a typical performance with certain expectations. I go to a typical performance expecting a certain environment myself and I think we all have a more enjoyable experience at the theatre when our expectations for the environment are met. The real problem is the fact that the mother had no choice but to go to a typical performance because there were such limited options of performances where her child's environmental needs could be met.

​Well, you work for TDF Phil, why don’t they just do more autism-friendly performances? They are trying, but there is a significant cost involved. A large misconception is that TDF is the theatre, which they are not. TDF is a third party non-profit organization trying to do some good and ultimately taking $20,000 losses on these performances. TDF fundraises and applies for grants, but there is only so much money out there for accessibility to make this model viable. So, even if TDF were to add two additional autism-friendly performances through the year bringing the number up to six that leaves us with 6 individual performances of different shows over the course of 365 days that are viable options for the 1 in 68 people who have been diagnosed with autism (the current CDC statistic for ASD diagnoses in the US) in our country. To say that’s not enough would be an understatement.​

My suggestion? Look across the pond.

Currently in London on the West End there are about four autism-friendly performances a year, which is the same as we average here on Broadway. How is that better? It isn’t. It’s the second level of access they’ve created that is what we need to look towards as a model for furthering accessibility. “Relaxed Performances” started at the Polka Theatre in 2007 and have been spearheaded by Kirsty Hoyle, of the Unicorn Theatre and Include Arts, in England since 2012 . These performances, unlike autism-friendly performances, are open to the general public and have the feel of “come as you are”. The productions have the slight technical adjustments of the autism-friendly performance, but no volunteers and no autism specialists to make it feel like an event. This is something Kirsty spoke about at a panel we were both on at the 2015 Kennedy Center LEAD Conference as a goal. Kirsty spoke about "access" meaning individuals with disabilities attending the theatre having as close to a typical performance as possible. The ushers and house staff go through a brief training on what to expect that day and what type of behaviors they may encounter. (Not dissimilar to the training TDF provides before their autism-friendly performances). From there it’s on the individual or the companions in their party to decide how to handle any situations that may arise. If they need a break there’s a few chairs set up in the lobby as opposed to a built out quiet area with bean bag chairs and calming aides like you’d find at an autism-friendly performance.

Well, the Unicorn Theatre is a small theatre so it’s not comparable, right? Actually, Relaxed Performances have spread throughout the West End including The National Theatre, handled by Ros Hayes, and The Globe. So, what third party sells these tickets and eats the loss discounting them? No one. These tickets are not discounted and they are sold directly by the respective show. (To be fair prices on the West End are a bit more reasonable than current Broadway prices) The show time is simply labeled as “Relaxed” on the performance schedule and the British audience is educated as to what that means. A "Relaxed" model requires no third party, no paid autism specialists, and just a quick 30 minute training for the house staff, therefore the London theatre community is able to average 2-3 Relaxed Performances a month. Not only are they able to serve more communities (Tourette’s, Cerebral Palsy, Down syndrome) by having a large quantity of content available but producing companies are able to skew older and provide quality content for those who are looking for more mature content, something TDF followed with the autism-friendly performance of Curious Incident. (I’ll save my lengthy thoughts on the dearth of opportunities for individuals with cognitive disabilities after they turn 21 for another time…)

So how do we make that happen here on Broadway?

Start with education. First, productions will need to be educated about what a Relaxed Performance entails and be open to implementing some bare bones technical adjustments to their own performances (cutting strobes, reducing sounds, keeping house lights at approx. 30%) Second, house staffs will need to be educated on what to expect at a Relaxed Performance and the best ways to react to a-typical behavior and sounds, something I know first hand TDF is ready, willing, and able to provide. Finally, the intended audience will need to be educated. The communities of those with disabilities that will feel supported by these technical adjustments need to know what Relaxed means and what it doesn’t mean. They will need to know that Relaxed doesn’t automatically mean kid-friendly (something I encountered with the phrase “autism-friendly” and our performance of Curious Incident) and that a Relaxed Performance of The Book of Mormon would not be for their 7 year-old with autism. Parents, caregivers, and individuals with development/cognitive disabilities will need to know that it will not be the same level of support that is available at an autism-friendly performance with a huge staff of volunteers. Instead this will be much closer to a typical theatre experience. Families will also not get the discount they might see at an autism-friendly performance. These would be full price tickets and gear towards those folks who may be older and working. From there it will be up to productions to schedule these as frequently as they see financially viable, logistically there will be minimal to no work to be done.

The Squeaky Wheel Gets The Oil

It's nice to talk about these things but how do we actually get the ball rolling? Simply, we need to ask. Many folks will look at four autism-friendly performances and just not realize that that's not even close to being enough. Audience members who could take advantage of this kind of programming need to call and email theatres asking for change. Theatre professionals need to bring this type of programming up at staff meetings and during the rehearsal process. If we want to make this a reality; if we want to expand on the dearth of programming on Broadway accessible to this community; we need to speak up.